Sudden Sympathy
by TheAnonymousNobody
Summary: On a snowy night, Raven finds a way to be okay again. College AU


_All clear, here we go…_ Raven thought to herself as she headed across the dimly lit campus. The lights were further obscured by the snow that was falling in torrents. _Perfect, I won't be disturbed._

Raven had taken to going out at odd hours of the night. Ever since _that_ night, she rarely went out at all unless it was for classes or occasionally food. Most of her cooking was done via either microwave or delivery, so it couldn't really be considered cooking. She thought that maybe college would be better than high school, but she was, alas, wrong.

After her first semester of college, things began to go downhill. Three people had attempted to gang rape her as she laid in bed one night. Although she knew who was behind it, it didn't matter. Nobody bothered to listen. Raven felt stuck. She had a full ride scholarship here, if she transferred or attempted to leave, the money would be forfeit. With nowhere else to go and no decent money to be made without a degree, she was stuck. And worse yet, she was stuck with seeing the people who hurt her almost every day.

So if she was going to be stuck, she tried to minimize the damage. Everyday she would get up at 6AM, (which was a struggle in and of itself as Raven was not much of a morning person), and review her homework with some of her professors. She'd stay in the building where she had all her classes for most of the day and only emerge to quickly duck back into her room during the dinner rush. Raven would then stay locked up until the late hours of the night. Even her trips to the communal bathrooms were done hastily and at a near frantic pace.

Her boots crunched under the heavy snow. Raven swept her eyes over the landscape. Although there was always the chance her attackers were out here too, she doubted they could even see her. She adjusted her purple scarf as the snow battered her face. The large flakes were coming down so thick and heavy that Raven could only make out the landscape a few feet in front of her. Her violet eyes instead squinted and turned down towards the sidewalk, watching her black boots break through the sparkling white blanket.

It took several more minutes of walking with the frigid air cutting her face like dozens of sharp knives before she reached the student union building. She stood in the entryway for a few moments pulling off her gloves and moving her scarf off her face. Raven rubbed her palms together to try to generate some heat and bring feeling back to her frozen fingertips. Blinking her eyes to get the frost off her lashes, Raven rounded the corner and headed up to the third floor where the campus post office was. She hadn't gotten her mail in over a month. Normally, Raven wouldn't expect anything, but her grades hadn't been so good since the attempted rape. Worry had begun nagging at her that her scholarship would be taken away. Half of her wanted to be free of this place, to pile all her stuff into a duffel bag, hop on the next bus out of town and try to forget everything that happened. The other half wanted to finish her education because this was probably the only chance she would ever get. The truth was that Raven didn't really know what she wanted anymore, and at this point she was having trouble just getting through each and every day. So resigned to whatever her fate may be, she had decided on this night to check for a letter from the dean's office. The weather ensured that few, if any, people would be out tonight. When it got this nasty outside, many students took the opportunity to hunker down and stay in. Her attackers would likely be ahem- busy - with their girlfriends tonight anyhow.

The large grandfather clock chimed. It was now midnight. The student union building had at one point been an old mansion. It was elegant with hardwood floors and hand carved walls. Raven took some time to catch her breath. She'd always liked the student union building. One of her favorite activities was to have some herbal tea and read up here on the old antique couches. At least, it used to be her favorite activity. _No more…_ Raven thought as she walked down the narrowish hallway where the student mailboxes were. Her feet were brought to an abrupt halt however at hearing some voices.

And the voices were all too familiar.

It was her former roommate! And one of her attackers! _She's dating that dirtbag now?! Well…they deserve each other._ Raven didn't like to be that mean, really she didn't, but to say she didn't like her former roommate was an understatement. That crazy blonde bitch had been nasty from day one. She threatened to stab Raven in her sleep with a pair of scissors. What had prompted this you ask? It started when Raven had the audacity to politely ask if Terra and her boyfriend could keep it down because Raven was trying to catch some Zs before her midterm tomorrow. That was the final straw. Raven sought help and managed to get moved to another building in a room by herself within a day.

She rarely saw Terra anymore and it was a good thing too. _Ugh, just thinking about her is making me sick!_ Terra and the attacker began turning towards where she was walking. Before she could register what she was doing, Raven quickly ducked into another hallway of mailboxes and stood frozen in place. She was afraid the slightest movement would make the floor creak and they would find her. Her heartbeat thrummed in her ears and her throat began to burn as tears welled up in her eyes as all the traumatizing memories came flooding back; Raven held her breath fearing that was loud enough to alert them to her position. She waited until she heard their footsteps fading before moving. She moved to peer around the corner. Terra and the rapist were standing at the top of the staircase and began talking. "Come on you idiots get moving." She hissed out in a hushed tone. Raven stilled her movement again for several more moments before checking to see if they decided to get on with their pathetic lives. Terra and the rapist were deep into a lip lock. "Oh for Azar's sake, get on with it you idiots!" She spat in a menacing whisper. Finally the third time she peeked around the corner they were descending the stairs, but at the last second Raven locked eyes with Terra who screwed up her face. "Fuck, just my luck." Raven whispered to herself as she dragged her hands down her face after that encounter. Her stomach dropped and she felt like she'd just eaten several grams of buckshot.

"Pardon me, are you alright?"

"Huh?" Raven let out as she snapped her head up only to be met with a pair of gorgeous ocean blue eyes as clear as the summer sky.

"I said, are you alright?"

Raven blinked several more times before answering. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine." She said running her fingers through her hair trying to sound nonchalant despite her racing heart.

"You don't look fine."

"Well I am."

He raised a brow at her and closed his mailbox. "You don't look like you're fine." He repeated. "Who were you talking to?"

"Myself." _Way to go Raven…_

"You call yourself an idiot often?" _Great._

"Yes."

"Well you shouldn't. I just met you and I can tell that you're not an idiot." _I'm just nailing it today aren't I?_ Raven grumbled at herself. Before the conversation could get anymore awkward, Raven bowed her head and mumbled out a farewell. Or at least she tried to before the stranger interrupted her again. "Seriously though, is something wrong?"

Raven had enough; she wanted nothing more than to get her mail, go back to her dorm, take some melatonin and go to sleep. It was already a bad day and seeing Terra plus her new rapist/boyfriend was too much for Raven. "He assaulted me and she threatened to stab me and I hate seeing them. Goodnight." She bit out. _That'll get him out of my hair._

His face fell noticeably and his mouth popped open. _Good now he'll leave me be._ The man ran a hand through his spiky black hair. "I- I'm sorry Miss- uh..I'm sorry. I didn't know…miss…" He trailed off; his eyes meeting hers again.

"Rachel." She amended. "Goodnight."

"Wait!" He called after her. Raven turned her head over her shoulder. "I'm very sorry that happened to you Rachel. I had a sister, Barbara, that was assaulted" a pause. "She killed herself a few years after it happened." Those blue eyes lowered.

Raven found herself feeling sorry for him. Pain was practically radiating from him. It was the first time in a long time she felt sorry for someone other than herself. And she was feeling sorry for a male nonetheless. "I'm sorry to hear that."

He nodded as did she.

"Well nice talking to you." Raven said beginning to leave again, without as much haste this time.

"Wait!" For the second time tonight, Raven turned back towards him. "Would you like to talk about it? I was just heading to the diner in town and I'd enjoy some company."

 _Is he asking me out?_ At first, she was about to decline, but the grumble in her stomach rose like a whale's mating call. _Curses._ Raven cursed her lack of cash for food. She'd planned on having sleep for dinner like so many nights before. _I'm so hungry, but I don't trust him. I'm not getting any weird or bad vibes from him. I sense he's good, but who knows._ Ever since the assault Raven didn't feel comfortable trusting her instincts. In fact, she was worried she never would again. Before she could protest, however, he began chuckling quietly at her.

"I'll take that as a yes." He extended a hand to her. When she didn't take it after several seconds, he smiled and gestured for her to follow. "C'mon." Raven followed him outside to the upper parking lot. _Oh thank Azar we won't be walking!_ "I'm Richard by the way."

She nodded. "Its nice to meet you."

As they settled into his candy apple red coupe, a thought dawned on her. "Did you have Dr. Wilson for calc three?" _Ah yes, the first semester of college, when things were actually okay. Not sure that'll ever happen again._

"Yeahhh." He drew the syllables out as if digging into his memory banks.

"I remember you, you sat in the front row on the right side." Raven said placing her hands near the heater to warm them.

His blue eyes lit up. "You sat a few seats behind me near the window. Your hair was purple then."

"Yeah, I dyed it black." Raven thought a moment before continuing. "People always called you Robin."

"That's just a nickname. Comes from my red t-shirts that I always wear. People say it makes me look like a red breasted robin." He laughed lightly pumping the accelerator in an attempt to warm up the engine and melt the snow off of the car. "But you can call me Dick if you'd like."

Raven stayed silent for a few minutes before speaking. _Not sensing anything bad still._ "Okay Dick, its nice to meet you, even though this is the second time."

Dick buckled his seatbelt and Raven followed suit. It was quiet throughout the ride to the diner as he carefully guided the car up and down the snow covered roads. The walk to the diner was enough to chill Raven to the bone again. The parking lot had been shoveled exposing the ice that was underneath the snow. She slipped and slid as she attempted to walk to the entrance. Dick carefully made his way over to her sliding and skidding himself. "Here." He held his hand out to her, now covered in bright green gloves and Raven accepted it. _Hmmmm, nothing…just some childhood pain, nothing unusual, strong sense of justice…that's odd. Not in a bad way though…he seems okay. Seems like someone I could be friends with. But…that doesn't mean anything anymore._ Raven occasionally glanced at Dick as together they carefully to tiptoed through the parking lot and to the diners entrance. A blast of warm air hit them as they stepped inside. It was a small fifties style diner with black and white tiled floors and metal tables. Raven vaguely remembered passing it those few times when she went walking into town. He smiled at her as they slipped into a booth. Raven noticed it was in a more secluded part. Her mind was ringing alarm bells, but that was nothing out of the ordinary for her. She took in a breath as she began removing her coat, gloves, and scarf. Raven was breathing deep, trying to relax as her eyes scanned the menu. The delicious scents of frying meat and warm bread wafting from the kitchen made her stomach's symphony grow louder. "Hungry huh?"

"Yeah. I haven't eaten today." Raven explained.

A waiter came over. "Hey Robin, long time no see!" He exclaimed bumping fists with him.

"Hey Vic, how are you?"

"Doing fine my man, doing fine. And who's this?"

"Vic this is Rachel. Rachel this is Victor Stone, the captain of the football team and my other roommate." Raven recognized him; it was hard to miss a behemoth of a man like Vic.

"Pleased to meet you." Victor said cordially. "Hey! I'll get you guys some hot chocolate!" He said making his way to the kitchen.

Dick smiled at her. "He helps out here on weekends. His uncle owns the place."

Raven nodded looking around. It was a really nice place, but better yet, it was warm. A few seconds of awkward silence passed between the two of them. "So you have other roommates?" She asked casually.

Putting the menu down, Dick nodded. "Yeah, you might know my other roommate Gar. He works at the school's coffee shop. He's the guy with the green hair who specializes in vegan drinks."

Raven knew who he was, in fact, she'd frequented the coffee shop during her first semester. After that, well, she hadn't been back since, too terrified of seeing her attackers. The thought of them alone was sometimes enough to send her into a panic attack. She nodded back at Dick politely, trying to bring her racing heart and rising adrenaline under control.

At that moment, Vic appeared with two steaming cups of hot chocolate. "On the house guys." He said placing the mugs down. "So what'll it be?"

"You know what I'm having." Dick stated with a laugh.

"A triple cheeseburger with onions, bacon and bbq sauce coming up."

"Rachel?"

She met Dick's eyes before turning to Vic. "I'll have what he's having." Raven said handing her menu to Vic.

"Good choice." Vic said before heading off.

Raven took a few moments to really study Dick, or Robin, as it would seem. Judging by his physique he probably didn't eat like this very often. Raven could see muscles beneath his tight fitting bright red shirt. His blue jeans were slim fitting too. His eyes seemed kind, but they also held pain. All in all Robin seemed like a pretty nice guy. Normal college dude, not the stoner, or the hippie who never bathed, or the guy who was a complete mess without somebody to take care of him, just ordinary. _Nice and ordinary. Those are two things that I've had precious little experience with._ At that thought, she began to relax considerably. He wasn't her attackers and she didn't think he'd hurt her. Raven still kept her guard up, but she began to gradually lower her defenses.

"So Rachel," he began before trailing off lightly. "Do you have a roommate?"

 _He was definitely going to ask something else…probably something related to my assault._ "I did at one time, but she was crazy and threatened to stab me, so now I live in a single dorm. Well, more like a closet. It used to be the janitor's closet actually. There's water spouts, a giant bucket and barely enough room for a bed." Raven clamped her lips shut, not meaning to reveal so much to him.

"Did you move after…y'know the assault?"

Raven sighed and looked into her cup of cocoa, swishing it around so that the dark liquid swirled lightly in the middle. _Should I tell him? Would it matter if I did? I doubt he'd think badly of me cause of his sister._ Drinking another small sip, she began to speak. "Three people tried to gang rape me, I turned one of them down for a date and next thing I knew he broke into my room with a couple of friends. Two of them held me down while one tried to rape me. I fought blindly like a madwoman." Dick watched her sympathetically, almost looking like he was about to cry at any moment. Raven took a shaky breath and continued. "When all was said and done, my room was a mess and I was covered in blood. I probably looked like I had committed a murder. The police didn't believe me after my attackers had claimed we were getting drunk together. There was no investigation. I guess they didn't want to bother doing the paperwork." Raven scoffed as a few tears leaked from her eyes.

Raven suddenly found a warm hand squeezing her own. "I'm so sorry Rachel." Dick whispered to her. His blue eyes met her own dark violet ones. "I'm so sorry that happened to you."

Despite herself, she continued on. "I wanted to leave, but if I do I'll lose my scholarship and I can't afford to go anywhere else."

"So now? Dick asked rubbing her hand with his thumb gently.

"So now, I'm stuck." Raven said angrily swiping the water out of her eyes. She flicked her eyes down focusing on her lap. Dick continued to hold onto her hand.

"I'm so sorry that happened to you Rachel, so so sorry." He replied.

 _So genuine, so kind…so unlike any other reaction I've gotten._ "Thanks." She murmured.

He went on. "I don't understand what's happened to you Rachel, but if you want to talk about it, I'll listen. I want to be someone you can come to and trust. I care and I want you to know that nothing that happened is your fault."

 _That's something I never thought I'd hear…_

Had Raven not been so anxious, she would've leaped up and given him the biggest hug she'd ever given anybody before in her life. But she was still guarded so she settled for taking his hand in both her own and holding onto it tightly. "Thank you." She whispered out.

He offered her a smile. "I've been thinking about what I could say to someone who'd been hurt like you ever since it happened to Barbara. If I'd only said those things sooner, maybe she'd still be around." His features darkened; Dick's eyes lowered and the calm blue ocean seemed to be stirred into a tempestuous maelstrom.

Raven wanted to say more, but let go of his hand as Vic brought their meals over to them. The burger looked delicious and Raven's mouth began to water at the sight of it. She quickly dove into the food. They ate in silence, but it was a companionable silence. Raven was comfortable. _For the first time in a long time._ So comfortable in fact that she even stole a few fries from his plate. He laughed and didn't seem to mind.

Dick and Raven split a piece of peanut butter pie as he paid for the check. "Yo Robbie, can I get a lift back to campus?" Vic asked taking off his apron. "I'm meeting my astronomy lab partner Kori in the library."

"No problem, c'mon Rachel."

The trio carefully made their way across the parking lot and to the car. The giant of a man didn't say much to Raven and she kept quiet on the ride back to campus. _At least its not snowing anymore._ She thought with relief.

After dropping Vic off at the library, Dick parked outside her dorm.

He took her hand again as they trudged through the nearly knee deep snow. _Why is he doing that?_

"Look Rachel, I don't want to sound weird or creepy or scare you or anything, but I'm really glad I got to know you. Glad we crossed paths, ya know?" He said eyeing her.

"Me too."

"Maybe we could hang out again sometime? I'll give you my number. And remember if you need me, for whatever, even if you just want some company while you sit around and do homework, just call. I live in the building just next door."

She took the piece of paper he handed her. "Thanks Dick, for everything. You've been so kind." Then hesitating a moment, she added. "I think your sister would be very proud of you."

His smile lit up at that and he pulled her into a tight hug. "Thank you Rachel. Thank you so very much." He let out.

Dick slung an arm around her as they again resumed their walk to her her dorm- er- closet. "Well despite you wanting to leave, I'm really glad you're still here."

They stood outside her door for a moment. "Hey can I ask you something?"

"Sure." Raven agreed.

"Can I call you Raven?" He asked. "You have black hair now and it reminds me of a raven. We can be like two birds of a feather." He joked.

A small smile spread on her face. "I'd be down with that."

"Cool."

Unlike their previous awkward moments where they just shifted their weight and nodded at each other, now it all seemed to click. They hugged briefly and wished each other goodnight.

Raven closed the door to her room and got ready for bed pleased with how the day had gone. She no longer felt as afraid or tense. It was a good feeling. She was calm, yet elated at the prospect of seeing Robin/Dick again. _Finally a friend!_ Raven sent him a text message thanking him again before turning off her phone for the night. And with a smile on her face Raven climbed into bed feeling better and more relaxed than she had in months. But just as she closed her eyes, a thought dawned on her.

 _I forgot to check my mail!_

THE END


End file.
